Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD Trims Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD trimmed its position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 40.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 386 shares during the quarter. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $42,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 230.1% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 33,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,483,000 after acquiring an additional 23,383 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 2,840.7% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 5,937 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 46.0% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 67,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 21,377 shares during the period. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $688,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 293.9% in the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $903,000 after purchasing an additional 9,108 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total transaction of $1,181,690.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total value of $699,397.36. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. This represents a 31.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SCHW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 price target (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Truist Financial increased their target price on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Redburn Partners lowered their price target on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

SCHW stock opened at $74.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.92. The Charles Schwab Co. has a twelve month low of $61.01 and a twelve month high of $84.50. The firm has a market cap of $135.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.94, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.12%.

Charles Schwab Company Profile

The Charles Schwab Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a savings and loan holding company that provides wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody, and financial advisory services in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Investor Services and Advisor Services.